Axle-mounting



N. l. GONDULF.

AXLE MOUNTING.

APPLICATION man SEPT. 2o. 1919.

2 SHEETS-SHEET l.

Patented Oct. 18, 1921.

Wl TNESSES 6 A TTURNEYS N; J. GONDOLF.

AXLE MOUNTING.

APPLICATION FILED sEPT. 2o, I9I9.

1,394,491. Patented Oct. 18, 1921.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

A TTOHNEYS UNITED Y STATES PATENT OFFICE.

NICHOLAS J. GONDOLF, OF NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA.

AXLE-MO'UNTING.

Application led September 20, 1919.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, Nici-roms J. GoNDoLr, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of New Orleans, in the parish of Orleans and State of Louisiana, have made certain new and useful Improvements in Axle-Mountings, of which the following is a specification.

My present invention relates generally to vehicles, and more particularly to a spring supported wheel, my object being the provision of quick acting and constantly effective means in connection with wheels, whereby to take upinequalities in the roadway surface for which the ordinary body springs are more or less ineffective,Y and a further object is the provision of means which will assist in absorbing the rebound` as well as promote greater life due to decreased wear of the parts.

With these general objects in mindmy invention may be better understood' from the following description, referring tothe accompanying drawings which form a part of this specification, and in which Figure 1 is a rear elevation partly broken away and in section illustrating the axle mounting constituting the preferred embodiment of my invention.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged Vertical section through the yielding support.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged detailedperspective of a portion of the wheel of Fig. 1 with the parts carried thereby. v

Fig. 4 is an enlarged detailed section illustrating a slightly modified form.

Figs and 6 are vertical sections taken respectively on lines 5 5 and 6--6 of Fig. l.

Fig. 7 is a detailed perspective view of a portion of the retaining ring.

Fig. 8 is a vertical section through the modified construction.

Fig. 9 is a detail showing another modified form of support.

Fig. 10 is a vertical sectional view illustrating the application of the invention to a front axle wheel, and,

Fig. 11 is a horizontal section through a portion of Fig. 10. i

Referring now to these figures, and particularly to Figs. l1 to 6, inclusive, illustrating the preferred embodiment of my invention as applied to a rear or driving wheel, one of the rear axles appears at 15 and is in two parts, of which the outer part is indicated at 16, and connected at its inner end to the outer end of the inner part by a universal Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 18, 1921.

serial No. 325,071.

joint 17, so`that the outer part 16 may swing vertically during rotation of the rear shaft and without interfering with such rotation.` For the purposes of my invention, the' outer part 16 of the rear shaft has the usual spindle 18, on which spindle the hub 19 of a wheel, of which the spokes appear at 20, is secured, and this wheel is provided upon its inner side with a flat disk 21 secured theretoaround and within which is a tube bearing ring 24.

This ring 24 has concaved side faces 25, as seen particularly in Fig. 7, and also has a concave inner peripheral face 26, the latter of which forms in part, the seat of an inflatablel cushioning tube 27. For this purpose the ring 24l has at one point a radial opening in registry with a similar opening of the cylinder 23 to provide for extension of the valve tube 28 beyond the casing.

The ring 24 is removably'secured within the cylinder 23 by'an annular series of machine screws 29 extending through the wall of the cylinder, and into the ring, and the ring also has an annular series oftransverse openings 30 by means of which conformably shaped clamping rings 31 are secured by transverse bolts 32. These clamping rings operate to clamp the outer'edges of the tube casing 33 snugly around tube 27, and to avoid any danger of the casing becoming misplaced its outer edges may be secured around retaining rings 34 as seen in Fig. 4 in connection with the casing 33a.

The inside diam-eter of the cushion thus formed by the tube 27 and its casing 33 is sufficient to receive a non-rotatable bearing sleeve 35, disposed around the outer portion of the shaft part 16 within the tube and preferably having an inner roller bearing 36. At its inner end bearing sleeve 35 has a dust excluding plate 37 and atits outer end has a similar plate 38, the latter of which is secured by screws 39 to upwardly and downwardly projecting extensions 40 of the bearing sleeve, as seen most plainly in Fig. 3.

To prevent rotation ofthebearing Sleeve A 35 the outer end of the cylinder 23 has secured 'therein a circular plate 4l provided with a diametrical vertically disposed slot 42, the connection of this guide plate being effected by an annular series of machine screws 43 extending therein through the wall of the cylinder 23.

In this way it is obvious that while the bearing sleeve 35 moves up and down with the shaft 16 against the supporting tension of the surrounding tube 23, it cannot rotate by virtue of its engagement Aby the guide plate 41 of the cylinder 23.

The disk 21 before mentioned acts as a bearing plate for the outer disk 38 of the bearing sleeve 35 as seen in Fig. l, and may be additionally employed as a brake drum in connection with a friction bralrepiece 44, as seen in dotted lines in Fig. 3, mounted upon the lower angular end of an upright rotatable stem 44 having bearing `in the guide plate 41. As seen in the figure mentioned, this stem has an upper angular end 46 towhich the rear end of a control rod 47 is secured, and it is obvious that when this latter rod is pulledin the direction of the arrow, Fig. 3, the stem is rotated andA the brake Amember 44 will be swung outwardly into engagement with the inner face of the rotating plate 21 for braking purposes. Theseparts are also seen clearly in Fig. 6, and by reference to this latterligure, and also Fig. 3, it will be noted that the upper and lower ends of the guideslot 42 ofv guide plate 41 have yieldable bumpers 48, so that should the tube 27 become deflated the bumpers 48 lwill act to prevent Vpinching and destroying the tube by the action of the bearing. sleeve 35.

As seen in Fig. 8, I may substitute coiled springs 49 above and below the axle part 16d for the pneumatic tube before described,

each of these springs having its inner porn tion disposed in a cup 50 carried by the bear ing sleeve 35a and having its outer end disposed in a cup51 carried by the cylinder 23a, and into which the outer end of the respective inner cup 50 telescopes;

As shown in Fig. 9, in connection with telescoping inner and outer cups 50a and 51a, I may utilize individual inflated containers 52 in place of the springs 49.

In Figs. 10 andvll Ihave shown the application of my invention to a non-rotatable shaft or axle, and by reference to these fig* ures it will be noted that the outer part 53 of the axle is hinged at itsV inner end to swing vertically upon a pin 54 extending through the inner portion of the axle and through the axle housing 55, which is gradually enlarged toward its outer end to permit the axle part 53 toV swing.

Like the form of the invention first described, a gradually enlarging housing 55 terminates in its outer end in an enlarged cylinder 56, in which a cylindrical inflated tube 57 is. mounted as previously described, around a bearing ring 58 on the axle. To prevent undue lateral strain upon the hinged Ajoint 54, the outer portion of the axle may supports, soas to take up and absorb slight shocks and inequalities in the roadway surface for whichthe usual body springs of the vehicle would be ineective, and -it is thus obviousV my invention not only'operates to better ,the riding qualities of'a vehicle in connection with which improved axle mounting is employed, butalso operates to eifectivelylengthen'its life and the life of its tires by the reduction of wear, elimination of bendingY and fracturing, strains, and instantaneous and elastic response to roadway inequalities.

I claim l. A shaft or axle having anouter vertically swinging wheel supporting exten, sion, a bearing sleeve through which the said extension is rotatable having vertically extending portions at its outer: end, a stationaryv housing aroundthe axle vor shaft having an enlarged cylindrical portion around the said bearing sleeve and open at its outer end, a plate interfitting Vthe outer end of the said Vcylinder and having a vertical slot in whichthe said extensions of the bearing sleeve are slidably disposed to prevent rotation of the sleeve, fastening members entering said cylinder in a circumferential series and extending into said plate to detachably hold the latter in place, and means within the cylinder and interposed between the same and the said bearing sleeve to tension vertical yieldingmovements of the swinging part of the axle or shaft, as described. i v

' 2. A shaft or axle having an outer vertically swinging wheel supporting extension, a bearing sleeve through which the said extension is rotatable having vertically extending portions at its outer end, astationary housing around the axle-or shaft hav' ing an enlarged cylindrical portion around the said bearing sleeve and open at its outer end, a plate interfitting the outer end of the said cylinder and having a vertical slot in which the said extensions of the bearing sleeve are slidably disposedto prevent rota-V ing said cylinder ina circumferential series and extending into said plate to detachably hold the latter in place, and means Within the cylinder and interposed between the same and the said bearing sleeve to tension vertical yielding movements of the swinging part of the axle or shaft, said last named means including a tube supporting ring nteritting the cylinder, fastening members entering said cylinder in a circumferential 10 series and extending into said tube supporting means to detaohably hold the latter in place, a tube supported by said ring around the bearing sleeve7 a casing around the said tube, and clamping rings secured upon opposite sides of the tube supporting ring and engaging and clamping the outer portions of the easing, whereby the said tensioning means may be removed as a Whole after removal of the slotted plate. NICHOLAS J. GONDOLF. 

